In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

The position and general form of the Stoa by the Harbour at Perachora have long been known. It was discovered and excavated in 1932, the third and fullest year of Payne's excavations at Perachora. Brief notices of its discovery are to be found in the preliminary reports for that year, in BSA xxxii (1931–2) 260–1, and JHS lii (1932) 242, and in AJA xxxvii (1933) 155, AA xlvii (1932) 563, RÉG xlix (1936) 151, and in ILN 8/7/33; of these the last is perhaps the fullest. In Perachora i a single paragraph is devoted to the stoa on pp. 14–15, but rather more information can be gathered from the plan of the Hera Akraia temple, the triglyph altar, and the stoa on plate 138. This shows the position, plan, and state of preservation of the building when it was excavated. Since the publication of Perachora i in 1940 no further work has been done on the stoa, but there is a brief treatment of it in R. Martin, Recherches sur l'agora grecque, 461, 465 n. 4, 486, and in tables iv and v, and a discussion and drawing of the Ionic semi-column capital in G. Roux, L' Architecture dans l'Argolide aux IVe et IIIe siècles avant J.-C., 346 and plate 91.1.

Survey and excavation between 1988 and 1991 have revealed new evidence for the form, date, and history of the Roman stoa at Sparta. Nearly 200 m long, it was double-fronted and colonnaded, finished in marble, with two storeys on the S side and perhaps a single portico to the N, set either side of a central row of brick-faced concrete compartments that helped consolidate the acropolis plateau. Its order may have been archaizing Doric; it may have represented a reconstructed version of the Persian stoa. At the W end it buttressed the Round Building and its square podium. Evidence of the stratigraphy and architecture suggests it was built c. AD 130 and that the colonnades collapsed in the late 4th cent., after which it was partly incorporated into the late Roman wall circuit. The nearly central, cross-vaulted nymphaeum (bays XI–XII) was reused in the Middle Byzantine period for religious purposes, when a church was built nearby; possibly this was the church and monastery founded by St Nikon Metanoeites c.975. Occupation continued until c.1350. Interpretation of the topography of Sparta in the light of the new evidence from the stoa suggests that the still elusive agora may have been on the upper plateau N of the stoa, rather than beneath the stadium to the S.

Two ‘twin’ type B black-glaze skyphoi with an unusual profile to the base are described. Other examples of Type B skyphoi are listed, and the problem of origins discussed.

Viewed from the promontory of Perachora—and especially by night—there is a great contrast between the southern shores of the Gulf of Corinth and the northern shore of the Halcyonic gulf. To the south an almost continuous line of habitation is clearly visible—to the north, only the darkness of a coast where the mountains appear to drop directly into the sea. These mountains constitute a considerable barrier, beginning with the greatest of them, Helicon, to the west, set a little inland: next, on the very edge of the sea, Korombili; and then, further over to the east, the outliers of Cithaeron, which leave only the notoriously difficult route round the coast to Aegosthena by which a Spartan army precariously escaped. It is not surprising that the cities of the Boeotian hinterland largely turned their backs on the sea: except for certain events, to be considered below, this coast played little part in Boeotian history.

There are three significant harbours, or usable beaches, along this Boeotian coast (Fig. 1a). To the east, at the end of the bay between Cithaeron and Korombili is the beach of Livadhostro, the ancient Creusis. It is not a good beach, being open and exposed to the wind. Communication with the hinterland is not easy, and there is no modern road. The Thebans, in the year of Leuctra, kept a small fleet there, perhaps through compulsion rather than choice. At the extreme western end of this section of coast is the harbour of Sarandi. Between these two harbours, and to the west of Korombili, is the great landlocked bay of Domvraina. Even within this bay much of the coast is mountainous and abrupt, but there are two small harbours at the western end, and a reasonably large, very well-sheltered beach and harbour at the eastern end.

‘It is a singular fact regarding the eparkhia of Agios Vasiles, that throughout its whole extent not any ancient city has been discovered; and yet there can be no doubt that in one or two of the most populous of these valleys there must have been a town of more or less importance. To all my inquiries, however, in my two journeys through the greater part of the province, I could learn of no ruins or traditional site of any Hellenic city. … Notwithstanding this denial, I am induced to call the attention of any future traveller to this absence of any recognized ancient site in so large a district …’ So Captain Spratt at the end of the second volume of his Travels and Researches in Crete, published in 1865.

§ 1. There follow two transliterations, in the first of which I have put down only those letters which seem to me now absolutely certain (from the photograph, the impression, and Mr. Bosanquet's notes); the letters underlined are slightly injured but still clear. In the second I have indicated all the readings which seem to me to be reasonably probable from the indications of the impression, corrected by Mr. Bosanquet's reading of the stone wherever he felt it was certain. Where his repeated examination left him still in some doubt, it seems wisest to leave the text suggested by the impression, as giving at least possible alternatives. In the second transcription only those letters are underlined which appear to me open to some degree of doubt.

During a rescue excavation in the village of Magoula near Sparta, a pit was revealed which contained a heap of fragments of large and small vessels, the products of an unglazed ware pottery workshop. This paper presents the distinctive features of the workshop; the characteristic incised decoration on the strap-handle is considered its ‘trade mark’. The operation of the workshop is dated to the first half or the middle of the 12th cent., and its production is identified in large closed vessels (stamnia) and small jugs for everyday use.

The L.H. IIIB deposits from Mycenae fall into two distinguishable groups. The earlier, called L.H. IIIB 1, is represented by the pottery from the destruction level in the houses east of the modern road and south of the tomb of Clytemnestra. The destruction to which we owe these deposits appears to have occurred late in the L.H. IIIB 1 phase, and probably also affected the houses on the Atreus ridge. The later group, classified as L.H. IIIB 2, has been found in buildings within the Citadel and also in isolated contexts outside the walls. The deposits from within the Citadel come from the debris of a second, more widespread, destruction which affected other centres as well as Mycenae. The differentiation of the two periods was confirmed in the Citadel House area by the finding of deposits of L.H. IIIB 2 stratified above others of L.H. IIIB 1 character. The pottery of both these phases from the Citadel House will be published in the general account of the excavations which have taken place in that area since 1959. The detailed publication of the whole vases from the L.H. IIIB 1 destruction level of the houses outside the walls is planned for the next article in this series.

The village of Senirdje is situated some 15 km. to the N.N.W. of Isbarta (Baris), in northern Pisidia, in a gap in the hills dividing the plain of Isbarta from the plain of Ketchiborlu, through which the line of the railway-extension from Ketchiborlu to Egerdir now passes. Close to the village is a low, flat mound, in marshy ground, which, when I visited it in 1911, was entirely flooded owing to the severity of the previous winter. The mound, the northern part of which is traversed by the railway-cutting, rises to a height of 13 feet above the level of the plain, and 11 ft. 6 in. above the rail, at a point 150 feet to the right of the centre-line. The top of the northern bank of the cutting is about five feet above the rail, the southern bank about 9 feet. Some 18 inches down to the level of the plain remain unexcavated.

In June and July of 1954 a team often divers spent just over four weeks exploring the east coast of Chios. The team was based on Emporio in the south-east, where the British School was excavating under the direction of M. S. F. Hood and J. Boardman, and was thus able to rely on the archaeologists there for expert guidance. Most of the underwater work took place in this area, but the team was also able to spend some time exploring the north-east coasts of the island, thanks to Mr. Tom Dupree, who put his yacht Kerynia at their disposal.

The main diving equipment consisted of three twin-cylinder aqualungs with three spare twin-cylinder air-tanks, and a compressor to recharge them with air, belonging to the British School at Athens. The purchase of this expensive equipment had been made possible by the great generosity of Lord Kelmsley and the Sunday Times newspaper. Miss Dilys Powell, as representative of the Sunday Times, joined the expedition for two weeks and took an active part in the work.

Three islands of the Dodecanese (Rhodes, Kos, and Kalymnos) have produced a substantial amount of published evidence which sheds light on population fluctuations and external relations during the twelfth century BC. The burial evidence from the Ialysos cemeteries indicates that the population may have increased fivefold after LH IIIB. A corresponding decrease may have occurred in southern Rhodes indicating a synoecism of the island. If this is so, the reasons may be related to the increasing prosperity of the main town, Ialysos. This is a period of regional diversity. Distinctive island pottery styles developed under marked Minoan influence. However, mainland influence was stronger, broader, and more constant. None of these islands appears to have contributed to the development of IIIC styles elsewhere nor actively participated in maritime trade. Rhodes and Kos acquired objects from the east Mediterranean and Europe. At this time, there is evidence for a revival of sea travel within and beyond the Aegean. Rhodes, in particular, benefited from this but may primarily have been a passive recipient. The resulting prosperity could have been one factor which drew people to the area of Ialysos in a process of synoecism.

An ivory warrior head, discovered at the end of the last century in Enkomi Tomb 16, has often been mentioned and illustrated in the literature but it has never been the subject of a detailed study. Most interest has centred on whether the head represents a genuine Mycenaean carving or the survival of an Aegean motif in the Cypriote repertoire. Here form, function, material, carving technique and style are assessed, and comparisons are drawn with other warrior heads from Crete and mainland Greece. All evidence points conclusively to an Aegean origin for the Enkomi head.

The difficulties that hedged round the Garden of the Hesperides in the Greek seem still destined to make the Cyrenaica, a country to which the eyes of archæologists have so wistfully turned, almost as inaccessible to the modern traveller as to the heroes of ancient fable. The classic maidens have vanished, the Garden is somewhat run to seed, but the dragon of early legend is there, in the person of the native official who guards the historical treasures that lie strewn over the rich sites of the Pentapolis, stately tombs that worthless Arabs kennel in or plunder for statues and vases, to be peddled to Maltese or Greeks for (literally) home consumption or foreign export.

This addendum presents the tables of the chemical compositions of Late Bronze Age pottery that were omitted from the authors' paper with the same title, published in 1991 in the Proceedings of the Conference on Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean (Oxford 1989). In addition, a short description and bibliography is provided for those sites in Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily from which the pottery was analysed.

A scheme of exploration in the central and eastern parts of Asia Minor was inaugurated last year by a series of journeys in Phrygia, the main results of which have been published in the Journal of Hellenic Studies (for 1897 and 1898). During the present season I had the good fortune to be accompanied by Mr. J. W. Crowfoot, to whom the opportunity was afforded by the liberality of the supporters of the Asia Minor Exploration Fund, and our energies were devoted chiefly to the exploration of Galatia, a country which has received but scant attention from archaeological or other travellers. But on our way thither, we did a piece of preliminary work in the shape of re-examining two difficult inscriptions which I had copied last year and visiting an unknown corner of Phrygia on the north of Mt. Dindymos (Murad Dagh). In the following paper we propose to give a full account of this preliminary excursion, and a brief sketch of our work in Galatia which will indicate in detail the routes we followed, and so impart a good deal of information that will be of use to future travellers, but cannot be conveniently repeated in our detailed discussion of the district.

The fragments of an early Mycenaean pictorial krater decorated with fish from Maroni in Cyprus are discussed and illustrated. The piece is considered within the broader context of contemporary representations, and it is suggested that Minoan representations of bird and fish motifs provided the inspiration for the use of these two themes in the early stages of Mycenaean vase-painting.

It is symptomatic of the study of the archaeology of Crete that Pendlebury took 255 pages to cover the Minoan period of about 2,000 years but only 74 pages for the remaining 1,750 years, with a mere 22 pages devoted to the Hellenistic and Roman periods, from c. 300 B.C. to the Arab conquest in the early ninth century A.D., a period of 1,100 years. Needless to say, the importance of Crete in the Minoan age was infinitely greater than in these later periods, but they are still worthy of study, both for their intrinsic interest and to aid our understanding of Cretan history over all.

An important tomb group was discovered during the 1992 excavations of the Late Cypriot II town at Kalavasos–Ayios Dhimitrios. The tomb contained large quantities of Mycenaean ceramics, ranging in date between LH III A 2 and III B. Of particular importance was a chariot krater with the representation on both sides of a shrine, surmounted by horns of consecration, housing a seated female figure. As yet the iconography is unmatched among the known corpus of Mycenaean pictorial vases, though it appears to be related to Minoan–Mycenaean iconography known from other media.

Our information as to Damophon's work at Lycosura is derived partly from Pausanias, and partly from the actual remains of the group. All the existing fragments have now been collected together in the newly-erected museum at Lycosura, and the gratitude of archaeologists is due to the Greek Archaeological Society, and to Dr. Kavvadias, the Ephor-General of Antiquities, for the opportunity thus afforded of seeing all the fragments together under one roof. During the last summer M. Kaloudes has added to his many services in the cause of Greek archaeology the partial restoration of two of the colossal members of the group, under the direction of Dr. Kourouniotis, Ephor of Antiquities for the Western Peloponnese. I am personally indebted to the Greek authorities for the opportunity of studying the fragments before, during, and since this restoration, and of publishing the results of my observations.